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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French word of the day: Casse-tête

This expression sounds like it could give you a headache, but it (probably) won't.

French word of the day: Casse-tête

Why do I need to know casse-tête?

It's the ultimate way of describing a complicated situation.

What does it mean?

Casse-tête can be roughly translated to ‘headache’ in English. Casser means ‘break’ and tête means ‘head’. It refers to the mental pain of struggling with a problem that is difficult to solve, like a very intricate maths task or a complicated puzzle (puzzle is in fact another possible way of translating casse-tête). You think so hard that your head breaks.

There’s a game known as casse-tête chinois, ‘Chinese puzzle’, in France, described by a French online dictionary as a ‘solitary patience game’. Casse-tête chinois certainly looks like something that would inflict a headache. It resembles a Rubik’s cube, made up by several wooden pieces that are supposed to be puzzled together to form a certain shape or pattern. 

Fun-fact: Although it's called Chinese, the very first casse-tête game was actually made in Greece in the 3rd Century, according to the dictionary l’Internaute. The game did however become very popular in China during the 19th century.

How do I use the expression casse-tête?

You can also use it in a less literal sense to describe something that's a pain or a problem.

If you have to enter Paris by car during the strike, you can definitely say: Mais quelle situation casse-tête! – ‘What a headache!’

French media have used it several times to describe the strikes, like here in Le Parisien:

Un casse-tête, une patate chaude, une bombe sociale, qui quelle que soit l'expression utilisée pour qualifier cette mission promet au service RH de la SNCF de longues nuits sans sommeil. – 'A headache, a hot potato, a social policy bomb. Whatever the expression one chooses to describe this task, it means long, sleepless nights for the HR department at the SNCF.'

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Brexit has also been described as casse-tête. Here in Le Monde Diplomtique:

Face au Brexit, le casse-tête nord-irlandais -The North-Irish puzzle tormenting Brexit 

 

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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

French Word of the Day: Flipper

This French word does not have anything to do with marine mammals.

French Word of the Day: Flipper

Why do I need to know flipper?

Because this anglicism is used a bit differently in French than it would be in English.

What does it mean?

Flipper – roughly pronounced flea-pay – is a colloquial French term and these days it means to be upset or overly anxious. People often use it similarly to the English expression ‘to freak out’.

As you may have expected, the term is an anglicism, and it comes from the English word ‘to flip’. 

However, in French it does not mean to literally flip something over – you would use renverser for that. It comes from a different usage of the word ‘flip’, more in line with ‘losing one’s head’.

The word started being popular in France in the 1970s, and at that time it was almost exclusively used to describe the experience of ‘freaking out’ or having a bad trip after taking LSD or other hallucinogenic drugs, according to Le Figaro.

Over time, it started to refer to the period of depression many people experience after feelings of euphoria when high, as well as the anxiety that one might feel due to withdrawal. 

Nowadays, people mainly use it to refer to any irrational response. You can also call something flippant (shocking).

A more formal synonym for flipper might be paniquer.

And if you find yourself in an arcade, you may hear the word a few times, as flipper is also the French term for a pinball machine.

Use it like this

Arrête de flipper, on va être à l’heure.  – Stop freaking out, we’re going to be on time.

Les résultats des élections m’ont vraiment fait flipper. Mes amis n’ont pas été surpris pour autant. – The results of the election really freaked me out. My friends weren’t surprised though.

J’ai flippé en regardant le film d’horreur. – I freaked out when I was watching the horror movie.

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